tribal membership

Here is the amended complaint in Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma v. Nash (N.D. Okla.):

Cherokee nation vs nash 4 23 2012 Cherokee filing

From the motion for leave to amend:

The proposed Amended Complaint by the Cherokee Nation does not change the original parties, nor add causes of action. It changes the cause of action from a focus upon federal abrogation of the Treaty, to a focus on interpretation of the Treaty language as it was meant by the parties at the time, and as later interpreted by federal statute and cases.

Kevin Maillard on the Elizabeth Warren Cherokee Controversy

May 4, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here (h/t to R.M.).

An excerpt:

For the Cherokee Nation, Warren is “Indian enough;” she has the same blood quantum as Cherokee Nation Chief Bill John Baker. For non-Natives, this may be surprising. They expect to see “high cheekbones,” as Warren described her grandfather as having, or tan skin. They want to know of pow wows, dusty reservations, sweat lodges, peyote and cheap cigarettes. When outsiders look at these ostensibly white people as members of Native America, they don’t see minorities. As a result, Warren feels she must satisfy these new birthers and justify her existence.

Looked at from the inside, however, the Warren controversy is all new. When the Brown campaign accused Elizabeth Warren of touting herself as American Indian to advance her career, this was news to Native law professors. We have a good eye for welcoming faculty to the community and identifying promising scholars. We know where people teach, what they have published and we honor them when they die. Harvard Law School named its first Native American tenured professor? Really? In our small indigenous faculty town, we would have heard about it already.

Santa Clara Pueblo Votes to Change Membership Rules

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Federal Court Denies Pala Band Members’ TRO against Dept. of Interior

April 10, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher5 Comments

Here are the materials in Aguayo v. Salazar (S.D. Cal.):

Aguayo Motion for TRO

Salazar Opposition

Aguayo Reply

DCT Order Denying Aguayo Motion for TRO

New Scholarship on Indian Gaming and Native Identity

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew King has posted his paper, “Indian Gaming and Tribal Identity,” on SSRN. It was published in the Chicano-Latino Law Review.

Here is the abstract:

The article presents the significant developments in the law governing Indian gaming with a view to assessing gaming’s politicization of Native identity. By addressing the stereotypes and caricatures of Native Americans and tribes that animate legal and political change in the field, the article seeks to demonstrate the essentialism of Indian gaming and the consequent effect of gaming politics on Native identity. Key among the views expressed are that Indian gaming produces real, non-theoretical gains for tribes, which in turn creates new subject positions for Native Americans, and that gaming introduces substantial non-Native influence into the process of tribal government, thereby enacting a social and political cost to tribes. The article covers in separate sections the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, Tribal-State compacting in California, and critical responses to Native identity under an identity politics rubric.

Opening D.C. Circuit Brief in Vann v. Interior

March 31, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Opening Vann Brief

BIA Recommends Reversal of Pala Band Original 8 Disenrollments UPDATED

February 28, 2012March 1, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the letter:

Pala Disenrollments Response-Chappabitty Letter.2.28.12pdf

UPDATE: Appeal Document — Pala Disenrollment 2.25.12

Prior materials are here.

News Article about Rising Tribal Enrollment Numbers (Excluding the Disenrollment Tribes, of course)

February 24, 2012February 24, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here, via Pechanga.

Good news:

The swelling membership of the Tulalip Tribes, based near Everett, Washington, for example, is a point of pride for tribal member and state representative John McCoy, who believes improved health care and an above-average birth rate are at play.

“We’re living longer. Our babies are surviving birth,” says McCoy, adding that more jobs on reservations, led by tribal gaming, is another reason for the growth. “So we have our peoples coming back from other states. They’re coming home because there is an economy.”

At Tulalip, that adds up to a 22 percent growth rate over the past decade. Other tribes around the country have grown even faster.

And not so good:

At the other end of the spectrum are tribes whose enrollments are stagnating, including for example the Colville Confederated Tribes in northeast Washington.

Tribal councilmember Ricky Gabriel has proposed a referendum to relax the blood requirement in the tribal constitution so more children of mixed marriages can enroll.

“I’ve had a lot of very positive [reactions],” he says. “The elders are extremely happy about this. They’re pushing hard. They’re seeing their grandchildren not be able to be enrolled.”

Enrollment in the tribe currently requires a minimum of one-quarter Colville blood. But when you have intermarriage, that bloodline is diluted. It takes just a couple of generations of intermarriage to put the children at risk of being disqualified from membership.

Then the tribal population withers. The proposed referendum would change the rules to count any Indian blood toward the minimum.

Pala Band Disenrolls 15 Percent of Its Membership

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment